Tag Archives: Heart Attack

Reports are sketchy at best, but the word out of Los Angeles is that Rock legend Tom Petty is dead at the age of 66.

Amid retractions, updates and speculation, Billboard magazine is reporting that the news of Petty’s death is figuratively all over the map;

Tom Petty was put on life support Monday (Oct. 2) after suffering cardiac arrest, and conflicting reports now say that he has died at the age of 66. CBS News’ breaking news tweet citing LAPD has since been deleted. The LAPD later tweeted out an apology: “The LAPD has no information about the passing of singer Tom Petty. Initial information was inadvertantly [sic] provided to some media sources. However, the LAPD has no investigative role in this matter. We apologize for any inconvenience in this reporting.”

Earlier in the day, Petty was found in his Malibu home in full cardiac arrest, not breathing. Authorities told The Hollywood Reporter they did respond to a Malibu home around 10:52 a.m. for a man who suffered a heart attack, but they could not confirm it was Petty. Emergency responders were able to get a pulse back, but the man is in critical condition. He was then rushed to the hospital.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers just wrapped their 40th anniversary tour at the Hollywood Bowl last week.

It’s a short drive from the Barona Indian Reservation to San Diego’s Petco Park, but the man dubbed a “Padre for Life” will always know he’s at home in both places. For the last 20 years straight, former Padres top prospect Matt LaChappa has found himself at the receiving end of a vow that the Padres team leadership made to the young man after his suffering a heart attack and subsequent Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) that’s left him wheelchair-bound and barely capable of the most basic of everyday tasks.

Built like a buggy whip, as reported by the Orange County Register and also by KGTV of San Diego, it was a lanky young Matt LaChappa who stood 6-foot-3 and with a wicked 95 mile per hour fastball when he was the second-round 1993 draft choice of his hometown Padres. Tragically, his playing time was cut short while prepping for the 1996 season with the Minor League Single A (Long Season) affiliate, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, just a few hours drive from his boyhood home in the eastern mountains of San Diego County.

During a cool April evening back in ’96 with his parents sitting in the stands, LaChappa was warming up in the bullpen for the Quakes prepping to enter the game in relief. It was then Matt suddenly clutched his chest as he collapsed into a heap. As reported, it was Team Trainer Jim Daniels who ran to his side and immediately began administering CPR. Daniels continued for a full 20 minutes until local 911 dispatchers “finally decided which emergency unit to send.”

LaChappa had suffered a major heart attack. Later, in the hospital, he was struck with a second cardiac. “What happened,” says Priscilla Oppenheimer, the Padres’ director of minor-league operations at the time, “is that he had a virus around his heart. He’d just undergone a physical, too, but something like that can only be picked up on an ecocardiogram.”

As his father, Clifford LaChappa stated, “What happened to Matt, for some unknown reason, his heart defibrillated…” As MLB.com also reported, Clifford was also quoted, “When it happened, the heart didn’t pump enough oxygen to his brain. But he can talk, he can kick, he can speak, but it’s slow. There’s rigidness, stiffness and he’s unable to walk. But he knows what’s going on. We watch the games together.”

The elder LaChappa continued, “When this first happened, we weren’t sure if he was going to live or die, but the Padres made such a commitment to making Matt a Padre for life. For them to do that, it shows you that sports aren’t just about winning, it’s also about caring for the players.” Video of Matt’s latest visit to his team seen here.

Ever since Matt’s injuries back in 1996, the San Diego Padres have ensured Matt LaChappa was signed to a rookie contract each and every year. As the Orange County Register’s reporter Steve Bisheff penned, “Each year, they have re-signed him to a basic minor-league contract, just like the one they renewed again recently, not only providing him with some much-needed cash but, more important, allowing him to maintain his insurance so he can continue to receive quality care.”

With emphasis his, Bisheff adds, “The team doesn’t have to do this. It wants to do this.”